Journalists not welcome: Across Europe, press and migrants increasingly barred

"The press is not allowed in refugee centers." The message from the Greek government could not have been clearer. "No permission will be given to television crews and reporters to enter such premises that hosts refugees," Yannis Mouzalas, the minister in charge of immigration policy, said in a February 29 statement. In protest the Pan-Hellenic Federation of Journalists' Unions, one of Greece's most important media professionals' organizations, responded by underlining that "the need for awareness of society requires showcasing all aspects of the refugee crisis, including the conditions in refugee hosting areas."

The migration crisis has become the most compelling story in Europe. It dominates televised news with dramatic footage of migrants on rickety boats trying to reach Greek islands from the Turkish mainland, families blocked at border checkpoints in the Balkans, or expelled by the police from improvised camps in the so-called Jungle in Calais, northern France. It overwhelms papers' political sections, op-ed pages, and forums with polemics on the confusion and division of EU policies. It floods social media with outraged or outrageous statements.

Journalists however, increasingly find themselves banned from covering the story on the ground. Last year, Hungary's center-right government, which erected a razor-wire fence along the country's borders with Serbia and Croatia, set the template in hampering journalists' work. CPJ documented last year how, on a single day in September, seven journalists covering the migrant story were beaten or arrested in separate incidents by Hungarian police. Hungarian police denied attacking journalists, The Associated Press reported.The press was also banned from entering refugee camps or transit centers, with the general director of Hungary's office of immigration telling the rights group Hungarian Civil Liberties Union the ban was to protect refugees' privacy and security. On September 3, riot police ordered journalists to leave a railway station in Bicske, where one of Hungary's main refugee camps is, after declaring the station an "operation zone," the rights group reported.

Access to refugee centers has been limited in other countries too. Renate Schröder, director of the European Federation of Journalists, told CPJ, that a survey by the German Federation of Journalists of its regional offices found problems of access. "Some Länder (states) guarantee the right for information by letting journalist regularly into camps, while others restrict it. They pretend that first comes the right to privacy for the refugees and asylum seekers. There is no nationwide law, it depends on the political will at regional or local level," she said.

European governments are wary of the political impact of the refugee crisis. Far-right movements and national populist parties are on the rise nearly everywhere in Europe and benefit from an image of governments being powerless and confused. The priority by authorities appears to be getting the story off of TV screens, especially when citizens express their fears and opposition to welcoming more migrants.

In the Netherlands, a number of towns and villages have gone so far as barring journalists from covering public asylum debates at which authorities explain to residents the decision to open refugee centers in their hometowns. In January, authorities in Luttelgeest, a village in Flevoland province, said that journalists could not come closer than 5 kilometers to such a meeting, Index on Censorship reported. "I've never experienced something like this before," Allard Berends, editor-in-chief of the regional broadcaster Omroep Flevoland, told Index on Censorship. "It was just ridiculous. It was kafka-esque." The municipality said that it wanted to prevent turmoil and provide citizens with the privacy to speak their mind. In response, the Dutch Society of Editors in Chief said: "In an open and democratic society it is up to the media to decide what to report on, how to report and what methods to use." Sander Dekker, the Dutch State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science, supported the decision in an answer to a parliamentary question, arguing the measure was "not disproportionate." There have been other cases of journalists' bans too, like in the village of Heesch, part of the Bernheze municipality, where the municipal council allowed entry only to local journalists and barred cameras, according to local reports.

Journalists have a tough task covering the migration story. In improvised refugee camps like the Jungle in Calais which, until it started to be dismantled in February housed about 4,000 migrants trying to cross the Channel to the UK, and where human traffickers operate, reporting can be hazardous. In a widely reported incident, the Dutch journalists Maaike Engels and Teun Voeten were attacked on January 16 by three migrants carrying a knife and pepper spray, who tried to steal their camera. The attack was stopped by other refugees, who came to their rescue and chased away the assailants, according to reports. In such a polarized climate journalists constantly work under the suspicion, from the left of fanning discrimination and, from the right of silencing inconvenient truths. "We were criticized by liberal journalists and the refugee lobby as well as by right-wing anti-migration activists. Both sides accused us of fueling the propaganda of their opponent. Both camps urged self-censorship," wrote Voeten and Engels.

In Germany, journalists have been booed by far-right activists with the anti-Islam campaign group Pegida (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West). "Reporting on its rallies means diving into a hostile crowd that despises journalists as agents of a political-media traitor elite whose promotion of multiculturalism has sold the country out to an invasion of foreigners," according to Agence France-Presse Berlin correspondent Frank Zeller. "One of their chants is 'Luegen-Presse, auf die Fresse!'--which roughly translates to "liar-press, we'll smash your face."

In October, a poll of 1,209 Germans by the Allensbach Institute found that 47 percent described the reporting on refugees as "one-sided," i.e. pro-refugees. The criticism of the press reached a high point after a series of attacks near Cologne station on New Year's Eve when hundreds of people, particularly women, were harassed by people the victims described as of "Arab origin." German mainstream media were accused in conservative circles of being slow in reporting the story and hesitant in linking the violence to migration. Although the events remain murky--the role of refugees in the incidents is unclear and accusations against the slowness of the press have been challenged--the idea that Germany's public service media and elitist press are soft on migrants has received a boost among a population increasingly "losing faith in the media," writes Der Spiegel. The leading newsweekly added: "The German nationalist magazine Compact asked readers to vote for 'Germany's worst lying journalists' ... The rage, hatred and hostility are not just being expressed verbally anymore. Journalists are badgered and berated, hit with flagpoles, and attacked with pepper spray."

In mid-January a report by the EU-funded European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, which monitors attacks and supports press freedom, listed at least 49 attacks last year against the press in Germany, particularly during anti-migration rallies. On January 13, during a meeting with members of the German Parliament, Tom Strohschneider, the editor-in-chief of the left-wing Neues Deutschland, said that the number of death threats received by his staff increased heavily from the middle of 2015, the European center reported. The number of attacks has led the German Federation of Journalists to start a blog called Augenzeugen Info (Eyewitness Info) to report violence against the press.

In the toxic atmosphere triggered by the migration crisis the messengers--the journalists--are increasingly becoming the target of public anguish and anger.

CPJ EU Correspondent Jean-Paul Marthoz is a Belgian journalist and longtime press freedom and human rights activist. He teaches international journalism at the Université catholique de Louvain and is a columnist for the Belgian daily Le Soir.

3 comments

Western 'free' journalists in Hungary did not try to showcase all aspect of the refugee crisis. They went there in order to discredit Hungary. Their reports were partial and very biased. They were economical with the truth and unscrupulously manipulative. They regularly held up law enforcers, they were often in their way at police operational areas. For example, the Al Jazeera's reporter grabbed a Hungarian police man's arm while he was doing his job (you could seen on TV) and called to an account for touching the migrant. How dare a foreign journalist to attack another country's law enforcer? Why are they allowed to be that close to the events? He should have been arrested for it. When the migrants attacked the Hungarian border at Roszke, the journalists were standing at the front of the mob, in the first-second row. Basically, they were helping and supporting migrants to attack the border. That was a police operational area and civilians should not be allowed to be there (Serbian side of the border). When the policemen tried to take action and to catch the leaders of the attack, the journalists, being in their way, prevented the Hungarian policemen to take action effectively. You cannot expect a policemen to risk his own life and other people's lives just because you want to take close pictures in order to sell more newspaper and to make more money. When the policemen were taking action they had to push aside journalists because they did not move fast enough. They were barriers in their way. Of course, journalists became offended and wanted an apology. Are you normal? Do you have any self-criticism at all? I agree with every law and rule that intends to curb the 'power' of journalists and the media. The media has to be strictly regulated and punished for wrongdoing! Journalist have to be called to an account for their actions. Never forget, you are just ordinary people and are not above the law. You have to respect everyone, especially in a foreign country. Do not dare to refer to us all the time. You do not care the truth and people a long time ago. You all serve your masters' interest (oligarch). You brake the rules of journalism every day, low moral, no ethics. As an EU citizen I do not want you to risk law enforcers' lives or mine. If I see one of you in the way of a policeman, I'll knock you down myself. You have ruined many people's lives and you have helped to make the migrant crisis even worse. You'll have to pay for it one day!!

The press , just like the politicians have brought the problem on themselves , and have proved they are incapable of doing their jobs which is reporting facts equitably .
It is not just journalists , but politicians and people who because of the education systems do not know even European history , and do not inform themselves , and produce rubbish articles .
The press , just like politicians and political parties are no longer respected by EU citizens , and they will pay the price one day